Groveport City Council

Zoning variance OK'd for Blacklick Street business

Groveport City Council has agreed to reverse a decision by the city's planning and zoning commission to allow a second small business to operate out of a building in a Blacklick Street residential area.

Resident JoAnne Casserly, who owns Berwick Glass and Mirror, requested a use variance after learning from city officials that adding a second small business to her existing business at 577 Blacklick St. was not allowed under the building's current urban residential zoning.

Chief Building Inspector Stephen Moore said the glass business Casserly runs has been in operation long enough to be grandfathered in; however, after she rented about 300 square feet of unused space in the building to U:DO PC Repair Center, the zoning became an issue.

At that point, Moore and Law Director Kevin Shannon gave Casserly notice that she would require a variance.

"Shannon and I spoke with Ms. Casserly and let her know that when the new business moved in, she needed to get a variance, so she brought that forward to planning and zoning," Moore said.

"The commission ended up voting 3-1 to recommend disapproval of the variance as-is, but said that they thought it would be acceptable if city council put certain conditions on the variance."

Those conditions included making sure there would be no electrical interference created by the new business; that any equipment or work would not create increased noise or odors; that no work would occur outdoors; and any signs would meet the Historic Neighborhood guidelines.

Mayor Lance Westcamp, who serves on the planning and zoning commission, made certain that Casserly was OK with the conditions before making a further recommendation to Groveport City Council.

"Since Ms. Casserly couldn't make it to the last meeting, the board decided to make a vote to bring it forward here to city council to keep it moving, but even though it failed in planning and zoning, there wasn't a big opposition to it," Westcamp said. "There was no opposition to it from residents and we had a couple of neighbors come and speak positively about it."

Casserly said she has been very pleased with U:DO PC Repair Center sharing the space, and she doesn't imagine ever putting any other business in the location.

Council members voted unanimously March 10 in favor of allowing the zoning variance, with the conditions Moore suggested.